The MX-5 Miata of the Monthfrom

August 2006

Eric Nesset

Congratulations to Eric on the selection of his 2000 Miata as our August Miata of the Month!

My first new car was the 2000 model year MX-5 I bought in January of 2001.

At the time I was young and married living in Washington DC. My wife and I could only afford one car and as such over the years our little Miata has served us well in the capacity of a sporty daily driver, a small truck (to carry and tow items) and as a long distance cruiser (while on vacation).

My wife and I have a favorite saying, when you have a Miata who needs a truck?

When we lived in Washington DC we only had the one car and every weekend during the summer we would pack the trunk and drop the top and drive the 2-hour one way trip to Dewey Beach.

In 2002 we moved to San Francisco and among the funnier things we moved with the car during our stay was a 6 foot Cat Tower we purchased in Japantown (driving with the top down with the tower stretched from our trunk rack over the windshield).

In 2004 while my brother
lived in Los Angeles the car saw several trips down Highway 5 between
San Francisco and LA. Several times we would take the scenic Highway
1 (The Pacific Coast Highway) and in the spring of 2004 my wife and
I decided to drive the entire length of the PCH. When most people
say that they drove the length of the PCH they mean from LA to Frisco,
however we literally drove the entire length from its begining in
Leggett CA in NorCal all the way to the tip of the Baja Mexico peninsula.
During the 3,000 plus mile, 9-day trip we camped along the way and
took everything we needed by using a Hard Dog Hard Basket.

Then in 2005 when my wife was accepted to Veterinary Med School the Miata again served double duty as a tow vehicle pulling a small trailer with my motorcycle the 1,900 miles from Frisco to Ames, Iowa. We averaged 20 mpg while cruising at 80 mph!

The most recent adventure for our stout little MX-5 was this year's "Cannonball Run - One Lap of America". My father in-law and I drove 5,200 miles and visited 9 racetracks during the 10 day event. Our slogan was "Team Anything But Last" as we new we were at the bottom of the horsepower roster. We had a blast, the Miata proved quite the track car and we ended up with no breakdowns. We didn't crash so we finished #77 out of 85 competitors, one spot head of a 1979 Porsche 930 vintage racer. All with a 100% stock Miata engine and suspension (with at the time 105,000 miles)!.

Over this little cars life it has traveled 112,000 miles and still serves as my daily driver (round triip commute of 70 miles).

In 2006 our MX-5 has been to 5 track events other than the Cannonball Run and I look forward to the 2nd 100,000 miles as much as I enjoyed the first 100,000.